Hadith of the Twelve Successors
Encyclopedia
The Hadith of the Twelve Successors is a famous hadith
in Islam
, in which the Islamic prophet Muhammad
speaks about twelve Muslim rulers succeeding him. It is found in both Sunni and Shi'a hadith books.
:
Sahih Muslim
:
Sunan Abu Dawood :
Sunan al-Tirmidhi
:
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal
inhabitants
Also, A Jewish man named Na'thal, went to the Prophet and among the questions he asked who would succeed him. The Prophet said, specifying them, "After me, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib and then my two sons, Hasan and Husayn and after Husayn, nine Imams will follow from his children."
"The Jewish man said, 'Name them.'
"The Prophet said, 'When Husayn leaves this world, his son, 'Ali, and after him, his child Muhammad and after Muhammad, his son Ja'far and after Ja'far, his son Musa and after Musa, his son 'Ali and after 'Ali, Muhammad. After Muhammad, his child, 'Ali and after 'Ali, Hasan and after Hasan, his child Muhammad al-Mahdi. These are the twelve Imams." (Yanabi' al-Muwadat, p. 431).
). Twelver Shiites in particular identify the "twelve rulers" with their twelve Imams
from Ali
to Muhammad al-Mahdi
.
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal
:
Don't try to find faults with ‘Alī, he is indeed from me and I am from him, he is your leader after me. He is from me and I am from him, he is your leader after me
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal
:
When the āyah "And warn your relatives of nearest kin" (26:214) was revealed, the Prophet gathered his family around him and treated 30 of them to a meal and then said:
"Who is willing to guarantee my debts and commitments so that he should be with me in paradise and should be my successor from among my family."
A person whom Shurayk did not name, answered:
O Messenger of Allah you are like a sea, who can take charge of this responsibility.
The Prophet repeated his statement to his relatives, and (Imam) 'Alī [('a)] replied:
"I will undertake this responsibility."
[The above two sources have not been verified yet]
Sheikh Sulayman Balkhi Hanafi in his Yanabiu'l-Mawadda, ch.76, reports from Fara'idu's-Simtain of Hamwaini, who reports from Mujahid, who reports from Ibn Abbas :
that a Jew named Na'thal came to Muhammad and asked him questions about Tawhid (Unity of Allah). Muhammad answered his questions and the Jew embraced Islam. Then he said: "O Holy Prophet, every prophet had a wasi (vicegerent). Our Prophet, Moses Bin Imran, made a will for Yusha Bin Nun. Please tell me who is your wasi?" The Holy Prophet said: "My vicegerent is Ali Bin Abi Talib; after him are Hasan, and Husain and after them are nine Imams, who are the successive descendants of Husain."
Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tha'labi
in his Manaqib and Tafsir, Ibn Maghazili Faqih Shafi'i in his Manaqib and Mir Seyyed Ali Hamadani in his Mawaddatu'l-Qurba (Mawadda VI) :
narrate from the Second Rightly-Guided Caliph, Umar bin Khattab, who, when the Muhammed established fraternal and brotherly ties between the companions, said, 'This Ali is my brother in this world and in the hereafter. Among my descendants he is my caliph; he is my successor (vicegerent) in my community. He is the heir to my knowledge; he is the payer of my debt. What belongs to him belongs to me; what belongs to me belongs to him; his benefit is my benefit and his loss is my loss. He who is a friend of his is really a friend of mine and he who is an enemy of his is really an enemy of mine."
Indo-Pak Subcontinent
In the preface of his book 'The Ghadir Declaration', the well known Islamic scholar Professor Tahir-ul-Qadri
quotes the following from Shah Wali Allah, one of the greatest Sunni scholars India
ever produced:
“In this Ummah the first person to open the door of spiritual dominion is ‘Alī al-Murtadā. The secret of spiritual dominion of the leader permeated his progeny. Therefore, not a single saint is found in the Ummah who is not directly or indirectly indebted to the spiritual leadership of ‘Alī to attain spiritual leadership...Now in the Ummah anyone who is blessed with spiritual leadership by Allāh’s Messenger is indebted either to ‘Alī al-Murtadā or to the Chief Helper Abdul Qadir Jīlānī. No one can reach the status of wilāyah without this (indebted-ness)”.
Another prominent Indian Sunni scholar, Shāh Ismā‘īl Dahlawī held the following view:
“Alī al-Murtadā has also an edge over Abū Bakr as-Siddīq and ‘Umar Fārūq and this edge lies because of the greater number of his followers and all the highest spiritual and saintly activity, from his days to the end of the world, has to be mediated through him, and he has a say in the kingdom of the kings and the leadership of the leaders and this is not hidden from those who are familiar with the world of sovereignty… Most spiritual chains are directly derived from ‘Alī al-Murtadā. So, on the Day of Judgment, ‘Alī’s army including followers of high status and great reputation, will outnumber and outshine others to be a source of wonder for all the spectators.”
Finally, another Islamic scholar of India,Imam Rabbani Mujjadid Alf Thani Ahmad Sirhindi
, a Master of the Naqshbandi
Sufi Order, appropriately highlight the Sunni belief regarding the Twelve Imams in his Maktubaat:
“And there is another way close to the spiritual sovereignty and this is the way of the saints and the general friends of Allāh, and this way is marked by its characteristic passion and it carries the guarantee of mediation and the leader and chieftain of the saints of this way is ‘Alī al-Murtadā. And this grand office is reserved for him. On this way, the feet of the Holy Prophet are on ‘Alī’s head and Fatima and Hasan and Husayn are included with him. I believe that he enjoyed this position even before his physical birth, as he did after it, and whosoever has received the divine blessing and guidance, has received it through him, because he is closest to the last point on this way and the centre of this spot belongs to him. And when his period ended, the grand office passed on to Hasan and Husayn and then on to each one of the Twelve Imams, individually and elaborately. And whosoever received guidance in their life and after their death, received it through these saints. And the refuge and place of shelter of the saints of high ranks are these saints, (because they are the centre of all spiritual activity) and the sides tend to converge on the centre” (Maktubat al-Rabbani, 9:173#123).
Book of Genesis, which relates God speaking to Abraham:
The twelve rulers are commonly understood to refer to the twelve sons of Ishmael:
Some Muslims reject this identification, identifying Gen. 25:17-20 as a direct quotation of God and Gen. 25:13-16 as the fallible narration of a human author. Further, they argue that 25:16 contains the specifier "tribal" not contained in 17:20, "twelve rulers".
The Shi'a draw a further distinction, arguing that God is not in interested in secular power and refers to the religious authority of prophet
s or Imams when using the words "rulers" or "kings". According to this argument, the Biblical authors refer to kings or others with secular power when using the same words. Proponents of this view identify the words "great nation" with the Muslim community
and not with kingdom
. Note however that Twelver Shias consider the Imams not only as religious leaders but also as princes and the rulers.
Muslims identify the "twelve rulers" mentioned in Genesis with the Twelve Successors of the Hadith. For instance, the 14th century Sunni scholar Ibn Kathir
stated :
Since these successors, whether Caliph or Imam, originate from the tribe of the Quraish, from which Muhammad sprang, they are considered descendants of Ishmael.
A quote from the Shia Imam Muhammad al-Baqir
refers to Abraham's prayer narrated above:
Several sources also link the Hadith of the Twelve Successors to Twelve tribes of Israel with the words
A few sources also draw a link to Moses
:
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
in Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, in which the Islamic prophet Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
speaks about twelve Muslim rulers succeeding him. It is found in both Sunni and Shi'a hadith books.
Hadith
Sahih BukhariSahih Bukhari
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī , as it is commonly referred to, is one of the six canonical hadith collections of Islam. These prophetic traditions, or hadith, were collected by the Persian Muslim scholar Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, after being transmitted orally for generations. Muslims view this as one of...
:
- Narrated Jabir bin Samura: I heard Muhammad saying, "There will be twelve Muslim rulers." He then said a sentence which I did not hear. My father said, "All of them (those rulers) will be from Quraish."
Sahih Muslim
Sahih Muslim
Sahih Muslim is one of the Six major collections of the hadith in Sunni Islam, oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It is the second most authentic hadith collection after Sahih Al-Bukhari, and is highly acclaimed by Sunni Muslims...
:
- Narrated Jabir bin Samura: I heard Muhammad saying, "The (Islamic) religion will continue until the Hour (day of resurrection), having twelve Caliphs for you, all of them will be from Quraysh."
Sunan Abu Dawood :
- The Prophet said: "This religion remains standing until there are twelve vicegerents over you, all of them agreeable to the nation, all of them from Quraysh."
Sunan al-Tirmidhi
Sunan al-Tirmidhi
Jāmi` al-Tirmidhi , popularly and mistakenly Sunan al-Tirmidhi , is one of the Sunni Six major Hadith collections. It was collected by Abu 'Eesa Muhammad ibn 'Eesa al-Tirmidhi.-Title:...
:
- The Prophet said: "There will be after me twelve Amir (Prince/Ruler), all of them from Quraysh."
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal is a collection of Hadith collected by the famous Sunni scholar Ibn Hanbal to whom the Hanbali madhab of Sunnis is attributed.-Description:...
- Masrooq rates that someone asked Abdullah Ibn Masood, "O Abaa Abd al-Rahmaan, did you ask the Messenger of Allah how many caliphs will rule this nation?". Abdullah Ibn Masood replied, "Yes, we did ask the Messenger of Allah and he replied, "Twelve, like the number of chiefs (nuqabaa) of Bani Israel""
Similar Reports from Sunni and Shia Texts
Muhammad was quoted as saying,- Surely Islam will always remain mighty till there are twelve caliphs in it. All of them will be of the Quraish.
- There will be twelve caliphs after me, all of them will be from Quraish
- There will be twelve caliphs for this nation
- Surely this religion will always overcome its opponents and no enemy or deserter can ever harm it till there are twelve caliphs from my nation in it. All of them will be from Quraish
- This affair (Islam) shall always remain mighty impregnable and victorious against all its opponents till it is ruled by twelve, all of them will be from Quraish
- This affair shall always remain mighty and victorious over its opponents till there are twelve. All of them will be from Quraish
- This affair (islam) shall always remain righteous till theere are twelve chiefs. All of them will be from Quraish
- This affair shall always remain closely united till there are twelve caliphs in it all of them will be from Quraish
- This affair will always survive till there are twelve chiefs in it. All of them will be from Quraish
- This affair (islam) shall always remain upright till theere are twelve chiefs. All of them will be from Quraish
- This affair shall neither pass nor will come to an end till twelve caliphs pass in it. All of them will be from Quraish
- This religion shall survive till the Hour is established or there are twelve caliphs(ruling) upon you. All of them will be from Quraish
- There will be twelve strong supports for this nation. Whoever forsakes them will not harm them. All of them will be from Quraish
- This affair shall always overcome the one who opposes it. No enemy or opponent will harm it till there will be twelve caliphs from Quraish
- Surely this affair shall always remain dominant. No opponent can harm it till there are twelve chiefs. All of them will be from Quraish
- This affair of this nation (Islam) shall always be dominant till there are twelve chiefs or caliphs. They are all from Quraish
- The affair of this nation shall always remain straight and dominant over its enemy till there are twelve caliphs amongst them. All of them will be from the Quraish
- There will be twelve strong people from the Quraish. The one who bears enmity against them, his enemy will not harm them.
- Twelve (Caliphs) will follow this affair (islam). All of them will be from Quraish and their likes will not be seen
- Abdullah ibn Masood on being asked if he asked the Messenger about how many caliphs will rule this nation. He replied in affirmative and said that the Messenger replied, "Twelve, like the number of chiefs (nuqabaa) of Bani Israel"
- Your caliphs will be twelve equal to the number of chiefs of Bani Israel
- Know that the affair of my nation shall always be righteous till there are twelve caliphs in it. All of tem will be from the Quraish
- This religion shall always be upright till there are twelve from Quraish. When they are no more, the earth will be destroyed (swallowed) with all its
inhabitants
Also, A Jewish man named Na'thal, went to the Prophet and among the questions he asked who would succeed him. The Prophet said, specifying them, "After me, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib and then my two sons, Hasan and Husayn and after Husayn, nine Imams will follow from his children."
"The Jewish man said, 'Name them.'
"The Prophet said, 'When Husayn leaves this world, his son, 'Ali, and after him, his child Muhammad and after Muhammad, his son Ja'far and after Ja'far, his son Musa and after Musa, his son 'Ali and after 'Ali, Muhammad. After Muhammad, his child, 'Ali and after 'Ali, Hasan and after Hasan, his child Muhammad al-Mahdi. These are the twelve Imams." (Yanabi' al-Muwadat, p. 431).
Shia view
Shias see the 'Hadith of the Twelve Successors' as a basis for their belief in a succession of Imams. Shi'a argue that the "Twelve Successors" must have come in succession, arguing from the term "Successors" (Arabic: CaliphCaliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
). Twelver Shiites in particular identify the "twelve rulers" with their twelve Imams
Imamah (Shi'a twelver doctrine)
Imāmah means "leadership" and it is a part of the Shi'a theology. The Twelve Imams are the spiritual and political successors to Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, in the Twelver or Ithna Ashariya branch of Shia Islam....
from Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
to Muhammad al-Mahdi
Muhammad al-Mahdi
Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mahdī is believed by Twelver Shī‘a Muslims to be the Mahdī, an ultimate savior of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams...
.
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal is a collection of Hadith collected by the famous Sunni scholar Ibn Hanbal to whom the Hanbali madhab of Sunnis is attributed.-Description:...
:
Don't try to find faults with ‘Alī, he is indeed from me and I am from him, he is your leader after me. He is from me and I am from him, he is your leader after me
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal is a collection of Hadith collected by the famous Sunni scholar Ibn Hanbal to whom the Hanbali madhab of Sunnis is attributed.-Description:...
:
When the āyah "And warn your relatives of nearest kin" (26:214) was revealed, the Prophet gathered his family around him and treated 30 of them to a meal and then said:
"Who is willing to guarantee my debts and commitments so that he should be with me in paradise and should be my successor from among my family."
A person whom Shurayk did not name, answered:
O Messenger of Allah you are like a sea, who can take charge of this responsibility.
The Prophet repeated his statement to his relatives, and (Imam) 'Alī [('a)] replied:
"I will undertake this responsibility."
[The above two sources have not been verified yet]
Sheikh Sulayman Balkhi Hanafi in his Yanabiu'l-Mawadda, ch.76, reports from Fara'idu's-Simtain of Hamwaini, who reports from Mujahid, who reports from Ibn Abbas :
that a Jew named Na'thal came to Muhammad and asked him questions about Tawhid (Unity of Allah). Muhammad answered his questions and the Jew embraced Islam. Then he said: "O Holy Prophet, every prophet had a wasi (vicegerent). Our Prophet, Moses Bin Imran, made a will for Yusha Bin Nun. Please tell me who is your wasi?" The Holy Prophet said: "My vicegerent is Ali Bin Abi Talib; after him are Hasan, and Husain and after them are nine Imams, who are the successive descendants of Husain."
Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tha'labi
Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tha'labi
Abu Ishaq Ahmad Ibn Muhammed Ibn Ibrahim Al-Thalabi was an 11th century Islamic scholar.-Works:*Tafsir al-Thalabi*Lives of the Prophets , translated by William M. Brinner and Beate Wiesmuller-Sunni view:...
in his Manaqib and Tafsir, Ibn Maghazili Faqih Shafi'i in his Manaqib and Mir Seyyed Ali Hamadani in his Mawaddatu'l-Qurba (Mawadda VI) :
narrate from the Second Rightly-Guided Caliph, Umar bin Khattab, who, when the Muhammed established fraternal and brotherly ties between the companions, said, 'This Ali is my brother in this world and in the hereafter. Among my descendants he is my caliph; he is my successor (vicegerent) in my community. He is the heir to my knowledge; he is the payer of my debt. What belongs to him belongs to me; what belongs to me belongs to him; his benefit is my benefit and his loss is my loss. He who is a friend of his is really a friend of mine and he who is an enemy of his is really an enemy of mine."
Sufi view
While there may be a difference of opinion amongst some Sunni scholars of the exact identity of the 'Twelve Successors', one cannot deny that some of the greatest Sufi scholars, the vast majority of whom were Sunni, are unanamous on the elect status of the 'Twelve Imams' of spirituality.Indo-Pak Subcontinent
In the preface of his book 'The Ghadir Declaration', the well known Islamic scholar Professor Tahir-ul-Qadri
Tahir-ul-Qadri
Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri is a Pakistani Sufi scholar and former professor of international constitutional law at the University of the Punjab....
quotes the following from Shah Wali Allah, one of the greatest Sunni scholars India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
ever produced:
“In this Ummah the first person to open the door of spiritual dominion is ‘Alī al-Murtadā. The secret of spiritual dominion of the leader permeated his progeny. Therefore, not a single saint is found in the Ummah who is not directly or indirectly indebted to the spiritual leadership of ‘Alī to attain spiritual leadership...Now in the Ummah anyone who is blessed with spiritual leadership by Allāh’s Messenger is indebted either to ‘Alī al-Murtadā or to the Chief Helper Abdul Qadir Jīlānī. No one can reach the status of wilāyah without this (indebted-ness)”.
Another prominent Indian Sunni scholar, Shāh Ismā‘īl Dahlawī held the following view:
“Alī al-Murtadā has also an edge over Abū Bakr as-Siddīq and ‘Umar Fārūq and this edge lies because of the greater number of his followers and all the highest spiritual and saintly activity, from his days to the end of the world, has to be mediated through him, and he has a say in the kingdom of the kings and the leadership of the leaders and this is not hidden from those who are familiar with the world of sovereignty… Most spiritual chains are directly derived from ‘Alī al-Murtadā. So, on the Day of Judgment, ‘Alī’s army including followers of high status and great reputation, will outnumber and outshine others to be a source of wonder for all the spectators.”
Finally, another Islamic scholar of India,Imam Rabbani Mujjadid Alf Thani Ahmad Sirhindi
Ahmad Sirhindi
Imām Rabbānī Shaykh Ahmad al-Farūqī al-Sirhindī was an Indian Islamic scholar from Punjab, a Hanafi jurist, and a prominent member of the Naqshbandī Sufi order. He is described as Mujaddid Alf Thānī, meaning the "reviver of the second millennium", for his work in rejuvenating Islam and opposing...
, a Master of the Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...
Sufi Order, appropriately highlight the Sunni belief regarding the Twelve Imams in his Maktubaat:
“And there is another way close to the spiritual sovereignty and this is the way of the saints and the general friends of Allāh, and this way is marked by its characteristic passion and it carries the guarantee of mediation and the leader and chieftain of the saints of this way is ‘Alī al-Murtadā. And this grand office is reserved for him. On this way, the feet of the Holy Prophet are on ‘Alī’s head and Fatima and Hasan and Husayn are included with him. I believe that he enjoyed this position even before his physical birth, as he did after it, and whosoever has received the divine blessing and guidance, has received it through him, because he is closest to the last point on this way and the centre of this spot belongs to him. And when his period ended, the grand office passed on to Hasan and Husayn and then on to each one of the Twelve Imams, individually and elaborately. And whosoever received guidance in their life and after their death, received it through these saints. And the refuge and place of shelter of the saints of high ranks are these saints, (because they are the centre of all spiritual activity) and the sides tend to converge on the centre” (Maktubat al-Rabbani, 9:173#123).
Links to the Bible
Various Muslim authors link the 'Hadith of the Twelve Successors' to verses in the BiblicalBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
Book of Genesis, which relates God speaking to Abraham:
- Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"
- Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."
The twelve rulers are commonly understood to refer to the twelve sons of Ishmael:
- These are the names of the sons of IshmaelIshmaelIshmael is a figure in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an, and was Abraham's first born child according to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Ishmael was born of Abraham's marriage to Sarah's handmaiden Hagar...
, listed in the order of their birth: NebaiothNebaiothNebaioth is mentioned at least five times in the Hebrew Bible according to which he was the firstborn son of Ishmael, and the name appears as the name of one of the wilderness tribes mentioned in the Book of Genesis 25:13, and in the Book of Isaiah 60:7.-Biblical occurrences:In the Book of...
the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, DumahDumah (son of Ishmael)Dumah was the sixth son of Ishmael, the son of biblical Abraham and Hagar.-Biblical references:The generations of Ishamel are the ninth recorded in the Book of Genesis...
, MassaMassaMassa is a town and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, the administrative centre of the province of Massa-Carrara. It is located in the Frigido River Valley, near the Alpi Apuane, some 5 kilometers from the Tyrrhenian Sea....
, HadadHadadHaddad was a northwest Semitic storm and rain god, cognate in name and origin with the Akkadian god Adad. Hadad was often called simply Ba‘al , but this title was also used for other gods. The bull was the symbolic animal of Hadad. He appeared as a bearded deity, often shown as holding a club and...
, TemaTemaTema is a city on the Atlantic coast of Ghana, lying east of the Ghanaian capital city, Accra, in the region of Greater Accra. As of 2005, Tema had a population of 209,000. The Greenwich Meridian passes directly through the city...
, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps.
Some Muslims reject this identification, identifying Gen. 25:17-20 as a direct quotation of God and Gen. 25:13-16 as the fallible narration of a human author. Further, they argue that 25:16 contains the specifier "tribal" not contained in 17:20, "twelve rulers".
The Shi'a draw a further distinction, arguing that God is not in interested in secular power and refers to the religious authority of prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
s or Imams when using the words "rulers" or "kings". According to this argument, the Biblical authors refer to kings or others with secular power when using the same words. Proponents of this view identify the words "great nation" with the Muslim community
Ummah
Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
and not with kingdom
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
. Note however that Twelver Shias consider the Imams not only as religious leaders but also as princes and the rulers.
Muslims identify the "twelve rulers" mentioned in Genesis with the Twelve Successors of the Hadith. For instance, the 14th century Sunni scholar Ibn Kathir
Ibn Kathir
Ismail ibn Kathir was a Muslim muhaddith, Faqih, historian, and commentator.-Biography:His full name was Abu Al-Fida, 'Imad Ad-Din, Isma'il bin 'Umar bin Kathir, Al-Qurashi, Al-Busrawi...
stated :
- We see the following prophecy in the Taurat which is in the hands of the Jews and the Christians: "Indeed Allah, the Exalted, has given Ibrahim (a.s.) the glad tidings of Isma'il, and he has bestowed a favour and multiplied it and placed in his progeny twelve mighty (personalities)." ...
- Ibn Taymiyya said: "And these are the same, regarding whom the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) has given the glad tidings in the tradition of Jabir ibn Samurah and stated their number; indeed this is with regard to the Imams and the Hour will not come till they last."
Since these successors, whether Caliph or Imam, originate from the tribe of the Quraish, from which Muhammad sprang, they are considered descendants of Ishmael.
A quote from the Shia Imam Muhammad al-Baqir
Muhammad al-Baqir
Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Bāqir was the Fifth Imām to the Twelver Shi‘a and Fourth Imām to the Ismā‘īlī Shī‘a. His father was the previous Imām, ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, and his mother was Fatimah bint al-Hasan...
refers to Abraham's prayer narrated above:
- "We are the remnant of progeny. And that was the prayer of Ibrahim (a.s.) regarding us."
Several sources also link the Hadith of the Twelve Successors to Twelve tribes of Israel with the words
- "Twelve Caliphs, (like) the number of the Chiefs of Bani Israel."
A few sources also draw a link to Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
:
- "There will be Caliphs after me, whose number is like those of the companions of Musa."
See also
- Ahl al-BaytAhl al-BaytAhl al-Bayt is an Arabic phrase literally meaning People of the House, or family of the House. The phrase "ahl al-bayt" was used in Arabia before the advent of Islam to refer to one's clan, and would be adopted by the ruling family of a tribe. Within the Islamic tradition, the term refers to the...
- Islam and veneration for Muhammad
- List of hadith
- MahdiMahdiIn Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- before the Day of Judgment and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious...
- Shia view on Ali ibn Abi Talib